We loved the Dakotas; both of them. Open, uncrowded, and scenic. Rolling grasslands. Forests. Lakes and streams. We mean to go back and spend more time. We were only in them for a couple days driving through, but we got several looks at what is a rare bird for us, the sharp tailed grouse. Got lots of hawks and golden eagles. Thought we would get a ferruginous hawk but we didn’t. Here is the Dakotas list: 1. Ring necked pheasant 2. Sharp tailed grouse 3. Pied billed grebe 4. Double crested cormorant 5. Turkey vulture 6. Northern harrier 7. Swainson’s hawk 8. Golden eagle 9. American kestrel 10. Prairie falcon 11. American coot 12. Killdeer 13. Baird’s sandpiper 14. Eurasian collared dove 15. Mourning dove 16. White throated swift 17. Belted kingfisher 18. Eastern kingbird 19. Horned lark 20. Barn swallow 21. White breasted nuthatch 22. Mountain bluebird 23. American robin 24. Red winged blackbird 25. Western meadowlark 26. American goldfinch 27. House sparrow
Map
We bought a map with stick-on states back in 1992 when we got our first motorhome, the 19’ El Dorado. We’ve been sticking new states on it ever since, every time we go to a new one in the motorhome. We’ve carried the map with us in the El Dorado, the Jamboree, the first Bounder (Shamu), the diesel Bounder, and now the Monterey.
We’re westerners. We took care of all the western states right away. Then we got all the southern states. We haven’t added many states lately. The last one was in 2004, when we went to Michigan to pick up the diesel Bounder. But now… we got a new state this last trip: North Dakota. Here is our updated map. I suppose it should be a digital map now, after all these years, but I haven’t figured out how to do that yet. So, in the meantime, here is a photographic update of the primitive map.
More Techno
And Judy’s new HP Mini. This will run the navigation software while we’re driving the coach, without being a giant distraction on the dashboard. It has campground software on it so Judy can research possibilities on the fly. It will be online as we’re driving (using the Mifi), in case Judy needs to look anything up.
FW: Techno
Check out the little goodie on the left side of the table. That’s our new Mifi. It’s from Verizon. No more air card plugged into the computer. This is a secure Wifi for up to five computers.
The speed is pretty good too.
Along the way
There are chores to do each day. After driving, we have to scrub the bugs off the windshield so we’ll be able to see to drive the next day. In fact, we have to clean the bugs off the entire front of the RV. If you don’t get them off the same day, the temporary collection becomes a permanent collection. I do it with a brush on a long pole to reach all of the front of the motorhome, and a bucket of water. In the winter sometimes there is barely a bug. Summertime, it can be a big job. Here is the “before” picture during grasshopper season in the Dakotas.
